Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-04-12
EN- ROUTE TO TRIESTE.
Curious scenery in .hu.tria->~mi-Tropi
cal Vegetation Of the Adriatic.

Curiou. scenery in Au-tria->-mi-Tropi-
cal Vegetation "f the Adriatic.
St Peter /, scarcely more than twenty
five miles - the crow flies from the shore Of
the AdriatiC at Trieste But as far as resenI-
blanCe or suggestion is concerned 1t might bc
1t the antipOdes Imagination can scarcely
conceive that sami-trOpical sea shore as
dreamy as that Of the lotus eaters lies 50 near
| to barren, wind swept hills, towering Intd
peaks that are the abomination OF desoiltt0n
But though the region Is curious. with lts
scoopei out valleys and its submits aS bald
as the high Sierra, the district that YOU ira
| verse in going 10 Trieste i, far more singular.
The circular valley gives first Its distinguish
! ing characteristic Ia the scenery.
| am not III the secrets of the geOlO2ists,
but these valleys seem TO be a repetition on
larger or smaller scale OF the dcpressions i'll
| tine limestone districts of the western states,
called sink holes" A great part Of the re
gion is made up Of them. Sometimes they
| have a diameter Of 100 feet. sometimes OF a
mile In one or two cases the formation
broadens out into a circular valley several
miles in diameter, containing several Villages.
| They are generally, however. of moderate
dimensions, and their depth usually has a
| certain correspondence with the diameter.
| The sides are barren nearly To the bottom,
| which is usually surrounded by a circular
| wall, within which may be Patch of grass
| III summer, IA Vineyard or Il little crop OF
| some cereal The area inclosed may lie few
| square wards or several acres hut the aggre-
| gate of fertility compared with the agrre
| gate Of barren and stony hillside indicates n
! contest with nature which would Gppall even
| the stout heart of farmer in northern New
| Hampshire. Sometimes the form of the lie
preston Is slightly varied, and there Is level
ground which la, received equally uigGardiy
| treatment from nature, elsewhere anu not far
distant 50 prodigal Of her gifts
| The road descrnr at first almost imper-
| ceptibly. Towns with Italian names become
more frequent. The aspect of nature gradu
ally brightens. There are vineyards Of good
| size orchards that begin to show the semi
| tropical vegetation of the Adriatic. There
are hillsd.s on which the work OF afToresta
] tiOn is evident. There are others i'll which
| the little farms are laid out in long, narrow,
parallelogpams, like the strips on our ua-
tional banner Rut as one looks off across
| the barren trsets, strewn with small bowld-
ers. piled up 18th rocky masses, or pierce,!
| with points. edges, trisngles and fantastic
| forms Of stone, intersperse.i here aud there
| with oases of green pasture or casual cuitIva-
ton, the idea Of unkind, sullen, unrelenting
| nature endeavoring to drive mau from OFT its
face ever presses painfully upon his spirit.
| V hat paradise this must have been for the
| men of the stone age, with the material for
tools. weapons and domestic utensils so plen-
tiful and cheap. But men who were not sava-
| geS came here and toiled and deIved III the
very dawn OF antiquity, and later, when
Rome absorbed Italy when its galleys plowed
the Adriatic and its cities and villages dotted
its brown shores its cffervescent life bubbled
up and frotAed over this rim Of hills on 10
| this plateau that | have endesvOred to de
| scribe Cor San Francisco Chroui-